William S. Fitzgerald

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William S. FitzGerald, Sr. (October 6, 1880 – October 3, 1937) was an American Republican who served as the 39th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, from 1920 to 1921. He was born in Washington, D.C., to an Irish family and went to public schools. He earned a Master of Laws from George Washington University in 1903, then moved to Cleveland in 1904, where he practiced law.

FitzGerald entered politics in 1911 as a Republican city councilman for Ward 11, and he later became the city’s law director under Mayor Harry L. Davis. When Davis resigned in 1920 to run for governor, FitzGerald became mayor for a brief period, serving until 1921. One of his notable actions as mayor was his partnership with the City Council and Councilman Jacob Stacel to prevent the Ku Klux Klan from taking hold in Cleveland. In 1921, he was defeated in the mayoral election by former police chief Fred Kohler and returned to private practice.

He was a bachelor when he became mayor. He married Margaret Chilton Tucker in 1920; they had a son, William Sinton FitzGerald, Jr., but divorced in 1922. He later married Carolina Granger in 1933. FitzGerald died of a heart attack at his home in North Royalton, Ohio, on October 3, 1937, at age 56. His burial place is not known.